


I Never Believed in Love

by 08WonWon18



Category: NCT (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blackmail, Bottom Kim Taehyung | V, Comfort/Angst, Dark Past, Drinking, Emotional Manipulation, Endgame Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, Eventual Smut, Jeon Jungkook & Kim Taehyung | V are Roommates, Jeon Jungkook and Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun Are Best Friends, Jeon Jungkook is Whipped, Jeon Jungkook is a Tease, Kim Taehyung | V & Park Jimin are Best Friends, Kim Taehyung | V is Whipped, Kim Taehyung | V is a Tease, Kissing, M/M, Minor Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Minor Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Secret Relationship, Secrets, Slow Burn, Switch Jeon Jungkook, Switch Kim Taehyung | V, Texting, Top Jeon Jungkook
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2020-07-17 00:23:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19942735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/08WonWon18/pseuds/08WonWon18
Summary: !!!Currently being rewritten!!!UPDATED CHAPTERS ARE MARKED WITH * AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER TITLESEE THE NOTES AT THE BEGINNING OF "10. AUTHOR'S NOTE" FOR A PLANNED UPDATE SCHEDULETaehyung’s eyes were glued to Jungkook’s bare chest, which was still dripping some water down onto the towel wrapped around his lower body. “I.. umm.. you..” Taehyung shook his head, while seemingly subconsciously licking his lips.Jungkook felt a smile tugging at his lips: “Yes?”Taehyung looked around for a second before settling his gaze on Jungkook’s eyes, keeping it strictly there: “I was just wondering if you had a chance to text Yoongi yet?”Jungkook took his time, pulling an oversized white t-shirt over his well built stomach, intentionally flexing the muscles at the same time to make them even more visible.  The older boy was desperately trying to keep his eyes from wandering downwards while slightly moving around like his pants were getting uncomfortable.“I did” Jungkook replied finally.“Good. That’s.. good.”





	1. PHOTOGRAPHS*

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave comments and let me know what you think! Have fun reading ;)

**Jungkook sent a private message:**  
Hyung… I fucked up  
**[sent: 6:08PM]**

**Jungkook:**  
I really need to talk, where are you?  
**[sent: 6:53PM]**

**Jungkook:**  
Fuck it, I’m calling you  
**[sent: 7:01PM]**

_“This better be an emergency”_ Yoongi finally answered, sounding groggy and annoyed: _“It’s 3AM in LA, Kook, you do remember that, right?”_

“Shit, sorry, I forgot you’re in the States.” Jungkook panicked: “I’ll let you s-sleep now. Sorry I woke yo--” 

_“Nonsense, you know I’m always here for you. Though if this is about some guy again..”_

“No! No it’s not, I swear it’s not. No it’s not”

_“Calm down Kook, you’re rambling again. Besides I was only kidding. Just tell me what’s wrong”_

“I just.. I came home a while ago and my dad was fucking fuming with anger, so I asked him what’s going on and he shoved these photographs into my hands.. It’s bad, Yoongs, it’s rea--” 

_“Hold on, hold on… What are you talking about? What photographs?”_

“Photographs of me.. kissing Jaehyun. He found out I’m gay, Yoongs.”

_“Shit, are you okay?”_

“Well,” Jungkook started, looking at the suitcase by his feet: “not really.. He kicked me out.”

_“HE WHAT?!”_ Yoongi shouted so loud that Jungkook had to physically drag the phone further away from his ear for a second. _“Where are you?”_

“I’m--” 

_“Scratch that, just send me the address right fucking now.”_

Three hours later Jungkook was still sitting on the side of a road a few miles from his home. Or, well, what used to be his home anyways, if it ever even had been that. How exactly could one call a 7,500 square feet house _a home?_ It was by no means an overstatement to say that the house was a mansion. The private road leading to it alone was over four miles long, with secured gates on both ends, because his parents were more than a little paranoid and afraid that their precious little property, and the fortune they had stored inside of it, would get robbed or vandalized. Jungkook, frankly, had always despised his parents’ wealth and the way it had turned them into arrogant and obnoxious people. 

Jungkook’s hands were shaking from the cold, but for some reason he just couldn’t let go of the now dead phone he was clutching. He closed his eyes, leaning his head back and letting the rain fall on his already soaked hair and clothes. Even the rain seemed particularly unforgiving that night. 

The whole situation seemed rather funny, the way things had turned out. It was like something straight from a tv drama. He had always known his parents were controlling and strict about everything, trying to raise Jungkook to be exactly the way they wanted, needed, him; a perfect son to take over their multi-million dollar business. They had had everything worked out for him already, right down to the business degree they had him major in. Hell, his father had even orchestrated multiple blind dates for him in order to get him married and his wife bearing offspring sooner rather than later. So having him turn out to be gay.. Yeah, definitely not acceptable. 

At least he felt a little freer now, lighter somehow. He no longer needed to watch every word he said, or carefully calculate every single move he made, not to upset his parents. 

Jungkook chuckled humorlessly. Not once in his life had he expected his dad to have someone follow him though. Especially not in the way the photos he’d seen proved that he’d been followed. He’d always played it safe with Jaehyun, never kissing him out in the open, or even in public places. It had always been at Jaehyun’s house, while his parents were away. But someone had been watching them anyway. Violating not only Jungkook’s privacy, but Jaehyun’s too and at his home of all places. That should’ve never happened. Hell, it was illegal. And knowing that he could never prove his dad was behind it made it even worse. 

As if on cue, the rain got worse too, making the road in front of Jungkook actually start flooding. Great.. just fucking excellent, he thought, rolling his eyes. He knew that he should get up and start walking again. But even the closest buildings were miles away and there was nothing but forest here. If only he’d managed to call a taxi before his phone died.. But then again, where was he supposed to go now? He could always stay a few days at Jaehyun’s, maybe even Taeyong’s, but he didn’t really wanna bother his friends. 

Jungkook had been working for a few months now, while studying, but had nowhere near enough money, without his parents’ help anyway, to be able to afford an apartment yet, so that option was out of the question too. And frankly, living in a motel indefinitely didn’t sound too appealing either. Yoongi wasn’t in the country either, wouldn’t be in months, and he had sold his old apartment before he left. 

Jungkook sighed. Getting disowned when it was raining like in a scene straight from an apocalyptic movie hadn’t been a part of his plans. Neither was getting disowned in any other weather conditions either, to be honest, but the rain seemed to make it even worse. And having nowhere to go, with only a suitcase full of his belongings with him… That was not what he’d expected when he’d woken up that morning. 

“So,” Jungkook heard a pleasantly low voice say and saw a male figure stepping out of the Tesla he hadn’t even heard approaching. Damn, he hadn’t even noticed that the rain had finally stopped, or at least paused, sometime during the endless rambling he’d had going on in his head. “You must be Jungkook then.” the male continued, walking slowly towards Jungkook. 

As the male slowly walked closer to him, Jungkook noticed how strikingly handsome the boy actually was. His blonde hair was long enough to reach his brown eyes, but just short enough not to cover them fully. Realising how awkward it must look like for him to stare at the male like that, Jungkook shook his head to gather his thoughts and smiled a little: “Yoongi sent you?” he asked, though he was fairly certain it was the only logical reason to why this ethereal human being had wandered so far from everything. 

The male raised one of his eyebrows smiling, making it briefly disappear completely under his hair. Jungkook suddenly had to swallow the urge to run his hand through those soft looking locks. “Must be your lucky day. You do know that you’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere, right?” 

“Yea.. I can’t believe he made you come all the way here. I’m so sorry, I’ll pay you.” Jungkook looked down, ashamed.

“Ohh shut up, darling, this is nothing. Now, get in the car, it’s freezing out here.” the male grabbed Jungkook’s suitcase. Jungkook forced himself not to blush at the pet name while the other carried the suitcase to the backseat before getting back to the driver’s seat. Jungkook hesitated only for a brief moment before getting to the seat next to him and buckling his seat belt. 

The boy turned to look Jungkook straight in the eyes before they took off, one of his hands already on the steering wheel, while the other was ready to shift up the gear. It was an interesting fact to notice, that the boy drove a stick, whereas almost everyone drove an automatic these days. 

“Taehyung.” the boy said, making Jungkook look at his face again in confusion.

“My name,” the boy explained, chuckling at him: “is Taehyung. You can call me Tae though, if you want.” 

“Taehyung” Jungkook repeated slowly, tasting the name: “nice to meet you, I’m Jungkook.” 

Taehyung smiled at him once more, then focused on driving and made a smooth u-turn before getting back on the road..


	2. CURIOUSITY*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my dear readers!  
> I'm back with the second updated chapter, hopefully it lives up to your expectations :)  
> Feel free to leave comments and kudos, they're all deeply appreciated!

**JK'S POV**

Taehyung was a pretty confident driver, it had turned out, as he had been, and still was, speeding along the narrow streets way faster than he legally should have. Jungkook hadn’t complained once about it though. If anything, he was really intrigued by the sheer joy on the boy’s expression every time he’d make an especially sharp turn on the wet road, never losing control of the car for a second. Jungkook wondered if the boy was only fascinated by the high speed or if it was the feeling of adrenaline in general that had him so excited. Jungkook found himself wondering about different ways he could find out.

Shit, he thought, I should not be this intrigued about someone I just literally met twenty minutes ago. So he turned to look out of the window on his side instead of sneaking glances at the boy. Just so he could pretend he wasn’t imagining those plump lips against his own. Just for the sake of his own sanity. Because it had been way too long since Jungkook had had sex. Yeah, that was definitely the only reason he was feeling like this. Feeling like he wanted to get to know even the tiniest details about Taehyung. I’m going crazy.. I definitely am goi--

“Earth to Jungkook?” Taehyung waved his hand in front of Jungkook’s face, snapping him out of his inappropriate thoughts a while later.

“Yeah..sorry, did you say something?” 

“You seem to zone out a lot tonight. Or maybe it’s a habit of yours? Anyway, I just said that we’re here.” Taehyung pointed out the window at what Jungkook recognised to be one of the most expensive apartment buildings in Seoul. Highly secured too. Wildly common among celebrities. “Yoongi didn’t say much, but I got the feeling you’ve no place to go to right now, so you’re staying with me.” 

“You live here?” Jungkook questioned with raised eyebrows. 

“I do, yeah. Let’s go inside, you need to get out of those wet clothes.” 

Jungkook could’ve sworn he saw a seductive glint in Taehyung’s eyes when he said that, but it was gone faster than he could even blink and instead replaced by a fake-horrified pout: “No weird thoughts!” 

This time Jungkook could only turn his head away to avoid the boy seeing him blush: “It’s fine.. I don’t want to intrude. Can you just lend me your phone so I can call a cab or something? I can just stay in a--” 

“Nope. Sorry, but not a chance. You’re coming up with me and you’re staying with me. Trust me, darling,” Taehyung gently flicked the underside of Jungkook’s chin with his fingers: “You don’t wanna argue with me.” 

I’m so fucked, Jungkook decided as he felt shivers running down his spine at the feather light touch. And against every rational thought in his head, he noticed himself nodding silently in agreement. Yeah, utterly fucked…

…”Here’s a spare room that you can use, it has its own bathroom through the door at the back.” Taehyung opened the door to a fully furnished bedroom with a king size bed, a tv and a walk-in closet, in addition to the bathroom at the back, as he’d had said. “And stop with that face right now. I’m not about to let you go stay in some shady motel or god-knows what you were planning on. Not when I have two spare rooms here, and it’s been ages since I’ve had any use for them. You’re staying. Look, we can talk about rent and shit if it makes you feel better, once you’ve taken a warm shower, but you’re staying. And I mean it,” Taehyung let his gaze run down Jungkook’s body slowly, a faint smile tugging on his lips, though his eyes didn’t give anything away so Jungkook couldn’t tell whether it was an amused or possibly, slightly aroused look. “you really should change those clothes.”

Jungkook ran a hand through his damp hair awkwardly, not really knowing what to say. He didn’t want any pity from anyone, he was way too proud for that, but Taehyung seemed like a genuinely good guy who just wouldn’t take no for an answer, reminded him a lot about Yoongi in that sense actually.. Besides, it wasn’t like Jungkook really had a choice at the moment. He’d have to save more money first, before he had any chance of making it on his own. So he agreed, swallowing his pride: “Thank you Taehyung.” 

“Don’t mention it, Yoongi’s friends are my friends.” the boy turned to leave, but stopped suddenly, leaning against the doorframe: “Oh, speaking of Yoongi, you probably should give him a call or something. Never thought I’d say this, but he was going nuts with worry when he called me. Almost freaked me out too.” 

Jungkook bit his lower lip, feeling guilty. He’d never meant to worry anyone. He absolutely hated making people worry about him. “I will.” he promised. 

Taehyung nodded with a slight smile before disappearing back into the living room around the corner. 

Jungkook plugged his phone into a charger and headed to shower..

*******

**TAE’S POV**

**Taelightful sent a message to “Lovelies <3” group chat**  
Yoongi…  
[sent 00:06AM]

 **TheHandsomeOne:**  
Ooo do I smell trouble here? Three dots is never a good sign…  
[sent 00:07AM]

 **SugaAgustD:**  
You literally just used three dots yourself, Jin  
[sent: 00:07AM KST]

 **TheHandsomeOne:**  
I was proving a point!  
[sent: 00:07AM]

 **RealMe:**  
Jin, baby, you said you were going to sleep  
[sent: 00:08AM]

***TheHandsomeOne changed RealMe’s name into JinsBaby***

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
Aww don’t tell me you’re missing me already Joon <3  
[sent: 00:08AM]

 **JinsBaby:**  
…  
[sent: 00:08AM]

***SugaAgustD changed their name into DoneWithYouAll***

**ChimChim:**  
Taetaee! What’s up?  
[sent: 00:10AM] 

**Taelightful:**  
I’m pretty sure Yoongi-hyung knows exactly what’s up…  
[sent: 00:11AM]

 **Taelightful:**  
So maybe he should be the one to explain  
[sent: 00:11AM]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
What are you talking about?  
[sent: 00:11AM KST]

 **Taelightful:**  
I’m talking about the person in my shower rn  
[sent: 00:13AM]

 **ChimChim:**  
THERE’S SOMEONE IN YOUR SHOWER? WHAT HAVE I MISSED!?  
[sent: 00:13AM]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
Why would I know how to explain you having someone in your shower?  
[sent: 00:14AM KST]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
I’m pretty sure we’re way past that at this point  
[sent: 00:14AM KST]

 **Taelightful:**  
That’s not what I meant and you know it…  
[sent: 00:14AM]

 **Taelightful:**  
I’m referring to our phone call earlier this evening… ring a bell?  
[sent: 00:14AM]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
So you found him?  
[sent: 00:15AM KST]

 **ChimChim:**  
HIM?? TAE!!!  
[sent: 00:15AM]

 **Taelightful:**  
Yes, I found him. You could have warned though!  
[sent: 00:16AM]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
About..?  
[sent: 00:16AM KST]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
And what is it with you and ambiguity all of a sudden?  
[sent: 00:17AM KST]

 **Taelightful:**  
…  
[sent: 00:17AM]

 **TheHandsomeOne:**  
Aww our little Taehyungie has a crush?  
[sent: 00:18AM]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
He just literally met the guy like a few hours ago..  
[sent: 00:18AM]

 **TheHandsomeOne:**  
I’m going to ignore the tone of that message. A few hours is plenty of time to get attracted to someone’s looks, you know  
[sent: 00:19AM]

 **JinsBaby:**  
Have to agree with Jin on that one  
[sent: 00:19AM]

 **Taelightful:**  
I was actually talking about him refusing to let me help him..  
[sent: 00:19AM]

 **Taelightful:**  
As in I’m pretty sure he’s already planning on running away first thing in the morning or something. I barely got him to agree to come to my apartment in the first place!  
[sent: 00:20AM]

 **Taelightful:**  
So yes, Yoongi, I would appreciate if you’d tell me what I can do to stop him from having to spend another god knows how many hours out in the cold again?  
[sent: 00:20AM]

 **TheHandsomeOne:**  
Ok, now someone really needs to explain just exactly what it is that’s going on  
[sent: 00:23AM]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
I’ll talk to him, okay? Just know that he absolutely hates to be pitied so if you do that, he’s gonna bounce for sure. Sit down with him, be a friend.. That’s what he needs right now  
[sent: 00:25AM KST]

 **Taelightful:**  
Fine, I can do that. Anything else I need to know?  
[sent: 00:25AM]

 **Donewithyouall:**  
He loves Overwatch?  
[sent: 00:26AM KST]

 **Taelightful:**  
Gosh.. you’re so not helping  
[sent: 00:28AM]

 **Taelightful:**  
Anyways, I think he just got out of shower so I’m gonna go now  
[sent: 00:28AM]

 **ChimChim:**  
Tae, we’re not done talking about this!!  
[sent: 00:28AM]

...

 **SunshineHope:**  
Soooo, apparently I missed something?  
[sent: 06:30AM]

 **SunshineHope:**  
Guys..?  
[sent: 06:33AM]

 **SunshineHope:**  
Guess I'll find out eventually..  
[sent: 06:39AM]

*******

**JK’S POV**

**Yoongs sent you a private message:**  
First of all, glad you’re safe and sound  
[sent: 00:28AM KST]

 **Yoongs:**  
Second, you’re gonna stay at Tae’s. At least until I get back to Korea. No arguing about this, get it?  
[sent: 00:28AM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
He already talked to you?  
[sent: 00:29AM]

 **Yoongs:**  
I know what you’re doing, kid. Don’t try to change the subject  
[sent: 00:29AM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
I don’t wanna be pitied, you of all people should know that  
[sent: 00:30AM]

 **Yoongs:**  
No one’s pitying you, I didn’t even tell Tae what happened. You just gotta face the facts here  
[sent: 00:30AM KST]

 **Yoongs:**  
And those are that you have no place to go and Tae has spare rooms in his apartment. Trust me, he’s been driving me nuts trying to figure out what to do with all the extra space since Jin and Jimin moved out.  
[sent: 00:31AM KST] 

**Jungkook:**  
You’re not just trying to make me feel better about this, are you? Cause that would be a dick move  
[sent: 00:31AM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Thought you knew me.. when have I ever been such a softie?  
[sent: 00:31AM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
Ok, fair enough.. I’ll stay  
[sent: 00:31AM]

 **Jungkook:**  
But I am gonna pay some rent.  
[sent: 00:31AM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Suit yourself  
[sent: 00:31AM KST]

 **Yoongs:**  
You wanna talk about what happened between you and your dad?  
[sent: 00:33AM]

 **Jungkook:**  
Not really.. not yet  
[sent: 00:33AM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Right, well just know that you can. Whenever you feel like it. Anyways, I’m gonna get some sleep now that I know you’re alive and all. Ok?  
[sent: 00:33AM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
Careful hyung, you’re dangerously close to being a softie rn  
[sent: 00:34AM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Aish, shut up you brat and go play with Taehyung ;)  
[sent: 00:34AM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
wtf is that supposed to mean??  
[ERROR: message could not be sent. Try again.]

Jungkook heard a sudden gasp coming from the doorway and spun around, startled: “Jesus, you scared me!”

Taehyung’s eyes were glued to Jungkook’s bare chest, which was still dripping some water down onto the towel wrapped around his lower body. “I.. umm.. you..” Taehyung shook his head, while seemingly subconsciously licking his lips.

Jungkook felt a smile tugging at his lips: “Yes?”

Taehyung looked around for a second before settling his gaze on Jungkook’s eyes, keeping it strictly there: “I was just wondering if you had a chance to text Yoongi yet?” 

Jungkook took his time, pulling an oversized white t-shirt over his well built stomach, intentionally flexing the muscles at the same time to make them even more visible. At least there was no doubt about Taehyung’s sexuality anymore. Or, well, guess he could still swing both ways, but he was most definitely into men, based on his reaction. The older boy was desperately trying to keep his eyes from wandering downwards while slightly moving around like his pants were getting uncomfortable. 

“I did” Jungkook replied finally. 

“Good. That’s.. good.” Taehyung said, and Jungkook was suddenly feeling strangely disappointed when his expression and whole being went back to normal just like that, as if nothing out of the ordinary hadn’t happened. “I made some tea and sandwiches so you can eat something before you sleep. I’ll wait downstairs while you finish getting dressed” he smiled and turned around, leaving the room. 

“This is gonna be interesting..” Jungkook murmured to himself, running a hand through his damp hair before continuing: “What the fuck am I going to do?”


	3. GAMES*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry I'm late with this chapter!  
> In all honesty, this covid-19 situation is really messing up my schedules *sigh*  
> Hope you're all staying safe and healthy!

**TAE’S POV**

Taehyung woke up to his phone ringing on the night stand. The flashing screen told him two things at the first glance. One, it was only 04:52AM, and two, the one calling him was Johnny, his boyfriend. Which is why Taehyung pressed the ignore button without thinking much about it. He really had nothing to say to the boy. Least of all at 5AM. 

Much to his dismay though, the phone started ringing again immediately. Groaning, he sat up and picked it up: “What do you want?” 

_“Taehyung, baby, why didn’t you pick up the first time?”_

“I was sleeping. What do you want, Johnny?” Taehyung repeated, ignoring the pet name. 

_“Can’t I call my boyfriend? You really have been uptight lately.”_ Johnny chuckled, sounding drunk, and then cursed silently, probably walking into something.

“I’ve been busy.” 

_“Yeah, I know.. I’m sorry.. Look, I want to apologise.. for whatever it is that I did that got you so upset last weekend”_

_That would be you cheating on me behind my back you jackass,_ Taehyung thought, before replying a simple: “I’m tired, Johnny. And you need to sober up, so..” 

_“WAIT!”_ the older boy interrupted before Taehyung could hang up: _“Can we.. can we just meet up and talk? I miss you, baby.”_

“Fine. Hoseok’s party, this saturday, 8PM. We can go there together.” Taehyung finally agreed, thinking they really needed a chance to talk face to face if there was any hope of saving their relationship. 

_“Thank you, Tae. See you then, I won’t let you down.”_

_Yeah,_ Taehyung thought after the call had ended. _Like hell you won’t._

He dialed another number and sighed in relief when a familiar, sleepy voice answered after just two beeps: _“Tae darling, is something wrong?”_

“Jimin-ah, can you come pick me up a bit earlier today?” 

_“Of course.. How much earlier?”_

“Like… now?” 

_“You really need to tell me what’s wrong right now.”_

“Please Chim,” Taehyung whined, desperate to just get out of the apartment sooner rather than later. He felt like the walls were slowly suffocating him. And he didn’t want Jungkook to wake up only to find him on the edge and freaking out. 

_"I'll be there in twenty"_

**JK’S POV**

Jungkook slept longer than he thought he would, given the circumstances, and only woke up at noon. By the time he’d changed into an oversized, black t-shirt and worn-out, blue jeans he also realised that the apartment was deadly quiet. 

He wandered sleepily around the apartment looking for Taehyung, who was nowhere to be found, before winding up in the kitchen, where he found a post-it note on the counter:

_**I’m out with friends, should be back around 1:30(ish)PM.  
Made you some breakfast (probably more like lunch when you wake up though), it’s in the fridge. See you soon!  
TaeTae** _

_**P.S. Don’t you even dare think about sneaking out while I’m away, that would be a dick move (and not in a good way)** _

Jungkook smiled at the note, placing it in the back pocket of his jeans, finding it way too adorable to just throw away. He found Taehyung too adorable in general.. or well maybe more like annoyingly hot and almost illegally beautiful, but those were just details, right? 

Taehyung was also effortlessly kind and caring, which felt really, really good after the treatment Jungkook had received from his parents less than 24 hours ago. And to be honest, Jungkook really felt more at home in Taehyung’s apartment than he’d ever felt at his parents’ house. 

It was like Taehyung himself was-- _Wait a second,_ Jungkook thought suddenly, picking up his phone in the sudden rush of familiarity that was currently running through his brain. 

**Jungkook sent a private message:**  
Hyung.. Didn’t you once tell me that your ex’s name was Taehyung?  
[sent: 12:57PM]

 **Yoongs:**  
…  
[sent: 12:59PM KST]

 **Yoongs:**  
Do NOT tell him that you know…  
[sent: 12:59PM KST]

 **Jungkook**  
Wow, so it’s really true.. I’m staying at your ex’s house cause somehow he was kind enough to do you such a favour  
[sent: 12:59PM]

 **Yoongs:**  
We’re still friends you know.. Not every break-up is messy.  
[sent: 13:00PM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
Or he’s still in love with you  
[sent: 13:01PM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Haha no way, he has a boyfriend  
[sent: 13:01PM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
He does?  
[sent: 13:01PM]

 **Yoongs:**  
You sound awfully disappointed  
[13:02PM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
I don’t sound like anything, we’re texting.. In case you didn’t notice  
[sent: 13:02PM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Then why do you even ask?  
[sent: 13:03PM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
…  
[sent: 13:03PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
I’m gonna go now  
[sent: 13:03PM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Don’t do anything stupid kiddo  
[sent: 13:05PM KST]

**TAE’S POV**

“We’ll see you at the party next week, right?” Jimin shouted from the open car window, as Hoseok reversed back from the parking lot in front of Taehyung’s apartment building. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there!” Taehyung shouted back, rolling his eyes. He already knew the party was gonna be hell for him, again. This time, because Johnny was actually coming with him though. Usually his boyfriend never came to the parties or other events with him, always just happening to have something more important at the same time. _Or someone more important,_ Taehyung thought cynically. He knew that Johnny had cheated on him, probably even more than just once, but he was more concerned about the way he felt empty instead of angry or jealous. 

In all honesty, Taehyung wasn’t even sure why he was still giving Johnny a chance to work things out between them. But he couldn’t escape the wrenching in his gut just thinking about breaking up with the boy. He felt… stuck, in a way. 

Shaking his head, Taehyung got out of the elevator and fished out the keys from his pocket to open the door to his apartment. What he found waiting for him took him completely by surprise though. In the kitchen he saw Jungkook washing some dishes, the muscles on his forearms showing so perfectly it almost made Taehyung drool. _Out of all things it has to be a fucking muscle kink I have,_ he thought, drawing in a deep breath to calm down. 

Jungkook turned around, hearing the door shut behind Taehyung, and briefly looked like he’d been caught doing something far more questionable than cleaning

“You do know I own a dishwasher, right?” Taehyung asked instead of a greeting.

“I did notice that, yeah.” 

Taehyung smiled, taking slow steps towards the counter that Jungkook was currently leaning against: “Then why aren’t you using it?”

Jungkook inhaled deeply, and for a split second Taehyung could’ve sworn he saw his darken with some emotion he couldn’t quite describe. “I like doing thing with my hands.” 

Taehyung quirked his eyebrows, amused, and finally got close enough to Jungkook that their bodies were only inches apart: “Yeah? Like what?”

Jungkook didn’t even flinch, just tilted his head to the side and kept quiet, his poker face staying intact, much to Taehyung’s sudden dismay.

Instead of questioning whether he should continue teasing the younger or not, Taehyung quickly reached his hand behind Jungkook, their arms briefly brushing against each other, and grabbed two wine glasses from the shelf. Then he backed away, just as quickly, ignoring the way his arm was still tingling from the touch. 

“I bought some wine,” he said, smirking mischievously: “wanna drink?” 

The way Jungkook’s eyes lit with an equal amount of mischief told him enough; the younger was definitely not afraid of the challenge…

They ended up playing Overwatch for hours, empty wine bottles gathering on the table in front of the sofa they were sitting on. While playing, they had also talked a lot, gotten to know each other better. The conversation had been interrupted by multiple ‘No no no!’s and ‘Ha! Got ya!’s along the way, however, and by the time they finally decided to call for a truce, it was already 4AM. And all out of wine. 

Taehyung leaned back on the sofa, throwing his legs on Jungkook’s thighs: “You sure are one competitive piece of work.” 

Jungkook smirked, reaching to grab one, now definitely cold, slice of the pizza they’d ordered between matches: “Don’t I kinda have to be? Two majors in university, the business world I’ve grown up in and..” he trailed off for a second, staring at the pizza: “And my parents..” 

Taehyung watched the younger intently, with worry: “Jungkook?” 

“Hmm?” the younger turned to look at him, big doe eyes wide open.

“What happened yesterday?” 

Jungkook sighed, leaning back to stare at the ceiling: “My parents.. the umm.. found out I’m gay? And that didn’t exactly make them jump up and down with excitement..” 

“So they..what? Kicked you out?” Taehyung asked, praying that he was wrong about this.

“Yeah..” 

Taehyung stayed quiet for a while, closing his eyes and clenching his fists. Not once in his life had he had to deal with something like that. His own parents hadn’t been too happy about him coming out at first, but they’d decided quickly that his happiness was what mattered, not his sexual orientation. And even as they’d divorced and his dad had left, he’d made Taehyung swear that he knew both of them were proud of him and loved him still. 

So hearing that Jungkook’s parents had just thrown their son away like a broken toy, for something the boy had no control over… It made Taehyung see red. It made him sad. It made him wanna hold Jungkook in his arms.. It made him realise he was already attracted to the younger boy. And that… That scared the shit out of Taehyung.


	4. PHONE CALLS*

**JK'S POV**

... 

_”Care to explain these?” Jungkook’s dad asked as soon as Jungkook got back home.  
”Explain what exactly?” The boy replied, rather confused at the sudden emotionless tone, his hair dripping water from walking from the garage to the front door of their house in pouring rain.  
_

__

_A dozen photos were shoved into his chest, Jungkook barely having time to catch them before they fell to the hardwood floor.  
Jungkook looked at the photos in shocked silence for a while before abruptly lifting his gaze up to meet his father’s ”I..-”  
The boy stumbled backwards, feeling a sharp sting on his cheek where the older man had just hit him.  
”How dare you disrespect us like this? How dare you sabotage everything we’ve worked years for?! And how dare you show yourself in this house day after day like nothing has happened?”_  


__

_Each of his father’s words hurt Jungkook more than any punch ever could. He didn’t know what to say so he just stood there, staring at the photos now scattered across the hallway. Photos of him. Photos of him holding hands with and kissing another boy to be exact.  
Jungkook noticed that the photos were taken over the past few months, meaning that someone had been following him the entire time. Somewhere deep inside he knew that he shouldn’t be so surprised about that._  


__

_”Darling, what’s wrong, I heard you all the way from upstairs?” Jungkook flinched, hearing his mother. Always, always, only worried about her husband. Never her son._  


_”What’s wrong, is that **this boy** has nearly destroyed everything we’ve built, everything we’ve planned and everything this family has ever been worth.” The man spat, looking at Jungkook with so much disgust in his eyes that it would’ve rivaled the look someone gave at a rotting corpse. Of course without the slightest hint of sympathy, and suddenly Jungkook felt that he would’ve been better off never been born in the first place.  
_

_He didn’t show any of his thoughts though. And after the initial shock wore off and he realised the situation he was now in, he felt nothing but numb. It felt more like he was watching a movie than living his own life. _  
__

____

__

____

_His mother quickly glanced at the photos on the floor and then at her son. In an instant there was the same disgusted look on her face that was still very much visible on his father’s._  


____

__

____

_Yet Jungkook said nothing. He didn’t even say anything when his mother finally said: ”Gather your stuff and get out.”  
He still felt nothing when he slowly made his way towards the stairs and heard his father say: ”You’ve got 15 minutes, any more than that and I’ll have someone escort you out. And don’t bother coming back.”_

____

____

____

____

Jungkook woke up ,with a throbbing headache, to the obnoxious sound of multiple message sounds his phone was making. “Oh for fuck’s sake, who is it…” he rolled over to the side of his bed and grabbed the phone from the night table.

____

**Jaehyun sent you a private message:**  
Kook!  
[sent: 9:14AM]

____

**Jaehyun:**  
Where the hell are you??  
[sent: 9:14AM]

____

**Jaehyun:**  
And while you’re at it, mind explaining to me why your parents just told me that you moved out???  
[sent:9:14AM]

____

**Jaehyun:**  
WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL KOOK????  
[sent:9:15AM]

____

Jungkook groaned and dialed Jaehyun’s number: “Calm down, would you?” 

____

_“How am I supposed to calm down when you just suddenly disappear overnight?”_ Jaehyun spat.

____

“Well then at least lower your voice, yeah? I’ve got a headache..” 

____

_“You mean hangover. You better start talking.”_

____

“Didn’t realise that I was supposed to tell you everything I do.” Jungkook deadpanned. It had been a long time since he’d broken up with Jaehyun, but sometimes the boy still acted like they were dating.

____

_“You’re not. But this seems pretty damn huge, so out with it.”_

____

Jungkook rolled his eyes: “Where did you even see my parents?” 

____

_“I went to your house earlier this morning. Don’t act like it would’ve been the first time I’ve come to see you without warning you in advance. They seemed to be pissed at me this time though.”_

____

“Ahh shit my head hurts… It’s so complicated..” 

____

_“You really are hungover…”_

____

“Shut up. Well long story short, I didn’t move out… They kicked me out. And as for why they’re mad at you too… That’s just the for the same reason they kicked me out for. They found out I’m gay… by having someone follow me… follow us” 

____

_“Shit… They took it that well, huh?”_

____

“Have you met them?” 

____

_“Okay, you’ve got a point. What exactly do you mean by following us though?”_

____

“Follow us, as in, there were literally photos of you and me making out in your bedroom.” 

____

_“Fuck your family is insane. That kinda stuff is only supposed to happen in movies… You know that, right?”_

____

“Tell me about it… Can you promise me one thing?” 

____

_“No, I will definitely not give my consent for you to publish our sextape.”_

____

“Jaehyun, what the actual fuck??” Jungkook choked, eyes widening in shock.

____

_“If there were photos of us making out, there could as well be a fucking sex tape… Can you honestly tell me that it isn’t a very likely scenario?"_ Jaehyun reasoned, and Jungkook couldn’t really argue against him. That was a likely scenario, true. The thought just made him sick to his stomach. _“Just hope for your sake that there’s only one and it’s one where I bottomed.”_

____

“Ahh shut up, I don’t even wanna think about that.” 

____

_“Haha.. so what do you want me to promise then?”_

____

“Promise you won’t tell anyone about this.” 

____

_“Anyone?”_ Jaehyun asked, sounding as if he thought Jungkook was insane. _“You do understand that I have a boyfriend who would not appreciate finding out that your parents have a sextape of the two of us from someone who’s not me, right?”_

____

“Okay fine, Taeyong doesn’t count… Jeez you’re so in love it’s borderline disgusting. But do not tell anyone else, okay? And for the love of god stop talking about a sextape!” 

____

_“Why are you being shy all of a sudden? I mean we’ve both already slept with other people since we broke up, right? So why be all weird about our past?”_

____

“It’s not about the tape, whether there is one or not. It’s about my parents having it. Don’t you think that’s disgusting?” 

____

_“Fine, you’ve got a point. But you have slept with others after me, right?”_

____

“I’m gonna hang up now.” Jungkook sighed and did just that before Jaehyun had a chance to protest. He rolled onto his back on the bed, closing his eyes. His head was still pounding and the more he moved, the more he felt like throwing up. He never should’ve drunk those last two vodka shots. 

____

His attempt to fall back asleep, however, was suddenly interrupted when the door to his room busted open revealing Taehyung who looked like he hadn’t been drinking as much as Jungkook had, only a few hours ago. _Damn_ , he looked so good, his blonde hair looking like something from a magazine cover. All of Taehyung actually looked like he might’ve gotten out of a magazine cover to be honest. 

____

“Aww, is Kookie feeling a little under the weather?” The boy mocked, smirking as he took Jungkook’s appearance in. 

____

“Don’t even start. How can you even drink the way we did and then look like nothing happened like..” Jungkook glanced at the clock on the bedside table: “four hours later? I swear your tolerance is unnatural.” 

____

“Serves you and your unnatural Overwatch skills just right then.” 

____

“That’s why you decided to drink me under the table? Shit, should’ve just let you beat me twice in a row then. Maybe I wouldn’t feel like dying right now if I haaaa-!” Jungkook whined, covering his eyes when Taehyung suddenly opened the curtains and the morning sunlight washed over him like a tidal wave.

____

“Why’d you just do that?” his voice was muffled by the pillow he was trying to block the bright light with. 

____

Taehyung only laughed. 

____

____

____

____

**TAE’S POV**

____

____

**SunshineHope sent a message to “Lovelies <3”:**  
Everyone’s coming to my party next week, right?  
[sent: 08:27PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
Yessssss!!  
[sent: 08:29PM]

____

**Jinsbaby:**  
Yes, me and Jinnie are both coming!  
[sent: 8:30PM]

____

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
Thought we just did  
[sent: 8:30PM]

____

**Jinsbaby:**  
…  
[sent: 8:30PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
I’m still in the States, so no. Also Jin, please control your need to share all the details about your sex life…  
[sent: 8:32PM KST]

____

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
Aww, aren’t you getting any in the States? :(  
[sent: 8:32PM]

____

**SunshineHope:**  
Yoongi, when are you coming back to Korea btw?  
[sent: 8:32PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
As soon as I’m done with all the promotions  
[sent: 8:32PM KST]

____

**SunshineHope:**  
Wait… your album is already finished??? When is it gonna be released???  
[sent: 8:33PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
It is! And it’s amazing!!  
[sent: 8:33PM]

____

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
How are you the only one who knew that the album being finished, Jimin?  
[sent: 8:33PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
Am not! Tae knows too  
[sent: 8:33PM]

____

**Taelightful:**  
I know what?  
[sent: 8:34PM]

____

**Taelightful:**  
Ohhhh Yoongi’s album. Yea I know about that  
[sent: 8:34PM]

____

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
That’s different though!  
[sent: 8:34PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
What do you mean it’s different?  
[sent: 8:35PM KST]

____

**Jinsbaby:**  
Guess he means that you and Tae used to date  
[sent: 8:35PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
We broke up like a year ago though…  
[sent: 8:35PM KST]

____

**Taelightful:**  
Guys… you do realise that I have a boyfriend, right?  
[sent: 8:36PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
Uh huh… sure  
[sent: 8:36PM]

____

**Taelightful:**  
What is that supposed to mean?  
[sent: 8:36PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
Nothing.. But how many times have you guys actually seen each other lately? Have you even talked in the past two weeks?  
[sent: 8:37PM]

____

**Taelightful:**  
I’m not gonna talk about this rn  
[sent: 8:37PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
Well that’s a shocker  
[sent: 8:37PM]

____

**Jinsbaby:**  
Okay okay, let’s just calm down and get back to the point, right? You coming to Hobi’s party next week Tae?  
[sent: 8:38PM]

____

**Taelightful:**  
I am  
[sent: 8:40PM]

____

**SunshineHope:**  
Great, so that makes everyone but Yoongi! But you’ll be touring in Japan in no time so it’s no problem!  
[sent: 8:40PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
Don’t worry, I’ll come see you in Osaka as soon as I have a few days off. What about Kook, though? You should ask him to go to the party with you Tae.  
[sent: 8:41PM KST]

____

____

Taehyung stared at his phone for a while, not knowing what to answer. He hadn’t even thought about asking Jungkook to come to the party. And now that Yoongi mentioned it, he felt like shit. After all he already considered Jungkook a friend. A good friend.

____

____

**ChimChim:**  
Kook? Oh, so the person in the shower has a name!  
[sent: 8:42PM]

____

**SunshineHope:**  
Who’s this ‘person in the shower’?  
[sent: 8:42PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
A friend of mine. His name is Jungkook and y’all better make sure he doesn’t get any shit from anyone.  
[sent: 8:43PM KST]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
Tae, you gonna ask him or do I need to do it myself?  
[sent: 8:43PM KST]

____

**Taelightful:**  
Fine, fine! I’ll ask him. Satisfied now?  
[sent: 8:44PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
Yes  
[sent: 8:44PM]

____

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
Cool, so now that that’s settled, can we talk about how Jimin’s the only one who knew about the album?? Tae I understand cause, let’s be honest, Yoongi probably tells him all kinds of things he doesn’t tell us. But why tell Jimin and not the rest of us??  
[sent: 8:45PM]

____

**Jinsbaby:**  
Baby, why is that such a big deal?  
[sent: 8:45PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
Once again, Tae and I are not dating anymore…  
[sent: 8:46PM KST]

____

**Taelightful:**  
This is getting so weird.. Yoongi probably told Jimin cause he’s my best friend and Yoongi knows I tell him everything.  
[sent: 8:47PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
Jin hyung, are you okay?  
[sent: 8:47PM]

____

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
Just seems like you and Yoongi have gotten a lot closer lately and if there’s something going on, I wanna know! You guys are my family, can’t I be worried?  
[sent: 8:48PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
Awww hyung, I love you too  
[sent: 8:48PM]

____

**Donewithyouall:**  
Well, I need to go to work, so bye  
[sent: 8:49PM KST]

____

**Taelightful:**  
Yeaaa I’m gonna go too.. This shit’s getting weird  
[sent: 8:49PM]

____

**SunshineHope:**  
My poor puppy just peed all over the sofa so that’s my cue to go as well! Ttyl!  
[sent: 8:50PM]

____

**ChimChim:**  
I’m not even gonna make an excuse. Bye!  
[sent: 8:51PM]

____

**Jinsbaby:**  
Come back to bed now, baby  
[sent: 8:51PM]

____

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
You guys just totally ignored the question here, but yea fine, later!  
[sent: 8:52PM]

____

**TheHandsomeOne:**  
I’m on my way Joon :*  
[sent: 8:52PM]

____

____

Taehyung sighed, putting his phone down and rolled onto his back. He loved his friends, but sometimes they could get really weird. He got up from his bed and went to Jungkook’s room. Well, he made it to the door, but stopped, hearing Jungkook’s voice.

____

“Ahh stop whining, you were begging for it. And I’m more than happy to repeat it too if you don-” there was a pause: “Yeah I already told you I’d come, why are we still talking about it?” 

____

Another pause and Taehyung watched from the hallway as Jungkook rolled his eyes while smiling a little: “Fine, love you too. Bye now.”

____

Taehyung waited for a few seconds after there was no more talking before he knocked lightly on the door and pushed it all the way open. 

____

Jungkook looked a bit startled when he looked at Taehyung: “Hey” 

____

“Hey yourself.” Taehyung smiled, trying his best to push aside the nervously jealous feeling he had in his gut after hearing the younger’s phone call. 

____

There was a silence between them for a while, but strangely it wasn’t awkward at all. It was the kind of comfortable silence one could have with their closest friends and family. It was, however, a little odd to have it with someone you’d only met a few days ago. But Taehyung certainly wasn’t complaining. 

____

“So, you have something to say to me?” Jungkook finally asked, making Taehyung snap out of his trance (only to notice he’d been staring at the younger’s lips for who knows how long). 

____

“What.. w-why would you ask that?” he freaked out a little, wondering if he’d been too obvious about his attraction. God he hoped not. He was in a relationship for crying out loud. And so was Jungkook, if the tone of his phone call was anything to go by. 

____

“Well you did just come to my room” Jungkook chuckled: “That usually indicates conversation” 

____

“Right! Well I feel stupid for not bringing this up earlier.. A friend of mine is throwing a party next week cause he’s moving to Japan next month. Wanna come?” 

____

“A friend?” Jungkook seemed so amused that it confused Taehyung for a second before he continued: “Jung Hoseok, by any chance?” 

____

“How did you-?”

____

“Oh I just had a funny feeling.” Jungkook smirked while nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders.

____


	5. TROUBLE IN PARADISE*

**JK’S POV**

***7:38PM***

The following week passed by fast. Jungkook had so many lecture courses that he spent most of his time at university. Taehyung, on the other hand had less lectures, but had some other business to attend to almost every day, so the two barely got to see each other. When they did, however, they used the time to get to know each other better and better. Jungkook had found himself wondering time and time again how things might’ve been different if Taehyung wasn’t in a relationship. He didn’t dare entertain those kinds of thoughts for too long, though. 

Until, on the day of Hoseok’s party, he overheard a phone call Taehyung was having, most likely with his said boyfriend. Jungkook had been wondering what to wear to the party for almost 45 minutes when he finally settled for a simple, black button-up shirt and light blue, ripped at knees jeans. Even then he still wondered whether the outfit was too casual so he wanted to ask Taehyung’s opinion. Which is how he ended up behind the door of the older boy’s room. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but couldn’t bring himself to go back to his room either. Not when he heard the tone of Taehyung’s voice.

“So you’re not coming? That’s hardly a surprise.” The older was just saying, sounding annoyed and exhausted at the same time.

After a little pause he continued, his tone gaining new anger: “First of all, do **NOT** call me baby, you’ve already lost that right. And second, how long are you planning to keep on lying to me? Cause I sure as hell am tired of listening to your useless excuses for everything.” 

Jungkook could hear the frustration clear as day in Taehyung’s voice, and he didn’t need to see the boy to know that he was most probably clenching his fists at the moment: “DO NOT ‘TAE’ ME EITHER! Just fucking tell me what you want! This is exhausting to me, do you fucking get that?”

There was a longer pause this time before Taehyung spoke again, this time with a hint of dry sarcasm: “Well unlike you, I have actual plans for tonight. Plans that don’t involve some random guy’s tongue being shoved down my throat!” 

Jungkook’s eyes widened in shock when he heard that. Was the guy cheating on Taehyung? And if he was, how come Tae was still putting up with him? He deserved way better. 

“No, I’m not falling for that again. If you wanna talk, ACTUALLY talk, then you know where I’ll be tonight. But do not even think about showing up if you have nothing relevant to say.”

Jungkook heard a thud and Taehyung cursing, so he figured the call had ended. He knocked on the door to make his presence known: “You okay?” he asked, because he didn’t wanna lie about having heard a part of the conversation. 

Taehyung spun around, clear surprise written on his face, before it was replaced by something Jungkook didn’t dare name, as the older scanned his body with his eyes, from head to toe. Twice. “You heard that?” 

“Sorry” Jungkook ran a hand through his hair: “I was gonna come ask you if my outfit is okay, so I heard the end of your conversation.” 

Speaking of outfits, Jungkook was trying his very best to keep up his poker face while letting his gaze run over Taehyung’s. The boy was wearing a loose fitting, white shirt with a very low v-neckline, accompanied by a black lace choker and a pair of tight, black leather pants, which were hugging the boy’s figure in such a flattering way that Jungkook was not ready to see how they looked like from behind. Not if he wanted to maintain the last of his self control and sanity tonight. And Taehyung’s hair… he’d added some purple to the blonde and he looked absolutely gorgeous with the new colour. 

“Well I just… You know what? Never mind. Ready to go?” Taehyung finally replied, shrugging his shoulders and pasting a wide smile on his face. 

Jungkook decided he didn’t wanna push the boy to talk, if he didn’t want to. But he did want to let him know that he always could. So he stopped the older, before he could get out of the room, by placing his hand on the door frame to block the way: “I know you have friends who know you better than I do. And that you most likely would rather talk to them. But if you want a fresh perspective to things, I’m here for you. Anytime.” 

Taehyung’s smile faltered for the briefest second when he replied: “Thank you, Kookie.” 

***9:47PM***

There were at least a hundred people at the party. Most of them already on their third beers or so, when Jungkook and Taehyung finally got to Hoseok’s place. Which was huge. Well, not as big as Jungkook’s parents’ mansion, but still bigger than most of the houses in this particular area just outside of Seoul.

Taehyung had told Jungkook that Hoseok had briefly moved back to his parents’ house before his graduation so that he could get everything prepared before he moved to Osaka. Including sell his apartment, which he quite obviously would no longer have any use for. Especially when it made no sense to keep paying rent for an empty apartment for three years, which was how long the boy was planning on spending in Japan, working as a dance teacher. 

Taehyung and Jungkook both grabbed a beer from the cooler by the front door on their way inside. Jungkook had drunk his own by the time they Taehyung had spotted some of his friends in the living room, and was just about to excuse himself to go get some more when someone jumped on his back: “Jungkook!” 

“Jaehyun” Jungkook replied, rolling his eyes while shooing the boy off of him. 

“You just fucking walked right past us out there!” Jaehyun smiled, playfully smacking Jungkook’s shoulder. 

Taehyung looked slightly awkward, but quickly introduced himself to Jaehyun, who, in turn, smiled widely while also introducing himself: “So you’re the one who Kook is staying with, huh?” 

“That’s me:” Taehyung nodded, smiling.

“That’s nice of you, won’t your girlfriend or boyfriend mind that in the long run, though?” 

“Boyfriend, and it’s my apartment so I use it how I wish to.” 

Jaehyun raised his eyebrows: “You’re not living together with your boyfriend then?” 

“No. Sorry, it was nice meeting you, but my friends are waiting for me, so I should go... say hi and stuff. Text me if you can’t find me later, Jungkook, okay?” Taehyung said, clearly trying his best to avoid diving any deeper into the subject. 

Jungkook nodded in response: “Sure.” 

After Taehyung was out of sight, he turned to face Jaehyun: “What the fuck was that interrogation about?” 

“Relax, Kook. I’m just making sure you’re not staying with a psychopath who’s gonna kill you in your sleep or something.” 

Jungkook rolled his eyes: “Well, he’s not, so please stop. Why are you suddenly so fucking interested about my life again? We are not together anymore.” 

“You’re still my best friend, can’t I be worried? We’ve known each other for ages for crying out loud.” 

“Not if you’re gonna continue acting like my damn boyfriend. We need some limits here.” 

“Fine, fine, I’ll try to tone down my worrying. Happy now? He seems like a good guy, though. And you seem to like him. All I’m asking is for you to be careful, okay?” Jaehyun frowned. 

“I will.” Jungkook replied, mentally cursing himself, again, for realising he should already have been careful when he met Taehyung. If only someone had warned him back then...


	6. ONE CHANCE*

**TAE’S POV**

***10:09PM***

Taehyung let out the breath he’d been holding as soon as he got back outside of the house, far enough from Jungkook. He wasn’t ready to meet with his friends just yet. He needed to cool down first. It was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the way he felt around the younger boy. Especially the way he’d felt just now, watching him interact so casually, so _closely_ , with someone else. It had been painfully obvious that those two knew each other way better than just friends, judging by the way they’d touched each other. Not that they’d done anything inappropriate, god no, there had just been a level of intimacy that Taehyung had watched so many of his friends have with their significant others. 

Speaking of which, it was also becoming irreversibly difficult to ignore the way Taehyung had felt about his boyfriend lately. The lack of intimacy between them was getting to him, whether he liked it or not. But the lack of security and feeling at ease was even worse, and Taehyung was afraid he couldn’t ignore it for much longer. And on top of all that, Taehyung was now feeling a pang on his chest, a sort of sadness mixed with guilt whenever he looked at Jungkook and found himself wishing the younger to be his boyfriend instead of his actual boyfriend. 

Unlike his boyfriend, however, Taehyung would never cheat. He couldn’t even stomach the idea of doing the same to someone what had been done to him. What was still done to him, as he was certain that Johnny was cheating on him still. And yet, he still couldn’t seem to let the boy go. Let either of the boys go. Not Johnny, not Jungkook. 

“Taehyung” a voice came from behind Taehyung, interrupting his thoughts. It was a voice he recognised all too well by now. That voice had been the source of so much pleasure. And so much pain. He took a deep breath before turning around to face the boy.

“Johnny.” 

The older boy seemed awkward, standing there leaning against a tree with his hands buried deep in the pockets of his long jacket: “Can we talk now?” 

“Talk, then.” Taehyung looked him straight in the eye, crossing his arms over his chest trying not to look as vulnerable as he felt. 

Johnny came closer, but stopped a safe distance away, looking like he wasn’t sure how close he could be: “I know that you know.” 

“Know what, exactly? That you cheated on me? That you’ve been lying to me for months? Or perhaps you mean that I know about you asking me to be your boyfriend for the sake of my money?” 

“Taehyung, please, let me explain, I can ex-” 

“Wow” Taehyung interrupted, eyes widening in disbelief and disgust. He hadn’t actually wanted to believe everything he’d just accused the older of, but here he was now, hearing no efforts of denying any of it. “You’re not even trying to deny any of it. Please do tell me what good will any of your sad excuses do me then?” 

“Well you’ll never know if you refuse to listen to me now, will you? Just…” Johnny ran a frustrated hand through his hair and looked away, a thing Taehyung had learned he always did when he was lying: “I really do care about you Tae.” 

“Oh I’m sure you do. Explains why you can’t look at me while saying it.” Taehyung deadpanned. 

Johnny looked back at Taehyung, with fire in his eyes: “Can’t really be sure if you want me to look at you or not.” 

Taehyung tried not to flinch at the words: “Don’t you dare try to blame this on me. I have given you every opportunity to try to fix things. I have forgiven you for everything more times than I would ever dare tell anyone!” 

“No you haven’t” Johnny replied quietly.

“Excuse me?” Taehyung’s jaw dropped slightly.

“You heard me. If you had forgiven me then we wouldn’t be fighting right now, would we?” Johnny challenged, starting to take bold steps towards Taehyung. 

Taehyung, on the other hand, took an equal amount of steps backwards. 

“This is never gonna work between us again, if you don’t have feelings for me anymore.” the older boy shook his head. 

“Oh so now you care about my feelings?” Taehyung stopped abruptly, letting Johnny close enough to shove him in the chest, leaving him stumbling backwards: “Were you also thinking about my feelings when you slept with that guy two months ago? Or the girl a week after him?” 

“I never slept with him.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I confuse him with the other guy? Was this the one who only gave you head? Wait, no, there was also the one who you enjoyed making out with when you told me you were on a study trip. But then again, he only seemed to get your tongue shoved down his throa-” 

“Taehyung, stop!” Johnny interrupted suddenly, lifting his hands up in defeat. 

“Have you?” Taehyung threw back, coldly.

“Have I what?” the older seemed confused, and exhausted. Or annoyed, maybe both. 

“Have you stopped?” Taehyung clarified: “Stopped fucking other people? Lying to me? Making me feel like an idiot for waiting for you to call me when in reality you’re just out again, with someone else? Have you stopped hurting me?” 

“I-” 

“Cause if you haven’t,” Taehyung lifted his finger to silence the other: “then please just let me go, cause I can’t keep doing this.” 

Johnny stayed silent, and Taehyung felt weaker than he’d ever want to admit to anyone. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what breaking up with someone felt like. He’d been through that a couple of times already. And really, Taehyung wasn’t even sure why he felt so afraid right now. Afraid because he knew that Johnny could actually leave him? Or afraid of the exact opposite happening, and having to be stuck in a pointless relationship again, because he himself was too weak to end it? 

**JK’S POV**

***00:32AM***

Jungkook had been against the thought at first. Playing some cliché party games with a bunch of strangers was not really his thing after all, but after an unnecessary amount of persuasion from both Jaehyun and Taeyong, he’d finally agreed to it. Now he couldn’t say that he hated it, or at the very least he was tipsy enough to pretend like he didn’t hate it. 

That’s how he’d met Jimin, Namjoon, Seokjin and the infamous Hoseok, whose party this was and to which Jungkook had been invited not only once but twice. Both Jaehyun and Taehyung had asked him to come. Okay, that was beside the point. The point was that those four were Taehyung’s friends, which was why it seemed rather odd that none of them had seen the boy since he’d arrived together with Jungkook. His friends didn’t seem too worried though, simply stating that Taehyung was naturally social and was probably too busy with chatting with a bunch of people, so Jungkook tried not to think too much into it either. 

“Okay, Jungkook, your turn” Jimin smirked playfully from across the low coffee table in the living room where they were playing: “Truth or dare?” 

Jungkook rolled his eyes: “Dare, obviously.” 

“You haven’t chosen truth once during the game. Are you hiding some skeletons in your closet?” Jimin laughed, probably trying his best to annoy Jungkook to death. The older had been completely ecstatic to find out they were both originally from Busan, but that he had been born there first. So he’d just moved on to treating Jungkook like they’d known each other forever (read: annoying the living shit out of him). 

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Jungkook took a shot of soju: “Now hurry up with the dare, hyung” he mocked playfully. It was actually nice, the way he already felt so at ease with Jimin. Like they were indeed born to become friends. 

That’s when Taehyung stumbled inside the room, carrying an unopened bottle of soju in his arms: “You’re playing truth or dare? Let me join, let me join, let meeeee… join!” the boy giggled and almost tripped over his own feet before Jungkook grabbed his arm and pulled him to sit next to him on the sofa. 

“Careful, Tae” he murmured softly. 

“Taetae! Where on earth have you been?” Jimin reached to take the bottle out of his friend’s hand before hugging him carefully over the table. 

“Here and there,” Taehyung shrugged: “I see you’ve all met Jungkookie already. Ain’t he just the cutest? Oh, I interrupted! Jungkook!” he turned to face the younger:   
“You, do your dare!” 

“Jimin didn’t have a chance to give me one yet” Jungkook chuckled. 

“But I will now! I just came up with a great one, actually! You’re gonna give a lap dance” Jimin smirked victoriously, as if he’d just won in the lottery or something. 

“A lap dance? Are you serious? That’s the lamest dare so far” Jungkook mocked. 

“Uh huh, just you wait. You’re gonna give it… to me” 

Jungkook could feel his eyes widening comically, surprised. Until he saw that Jimin was no longer even looking at him. He was looking straight at the boy next to him. Which was even more confusing than the fact that Jimin had just asked him for a fucking lap dance of all things.

Taehyung seemed to have frozen in place for a second, blankly staring back at Jimin with an unreadable expression, before he was abruptly laughing again and basically kicked Jungkook up from the sofa: “Go on then boy. Show Jimin what those dancer hips of yours can do! I’m sure he’s eager to see” 

Jungkook took another shot to clear his head, or to mess it up even more to forget about his confused thoughts, before standing up: “Fine. Give me a song then. And Jimin,” 

Jimin perked up, looking at him straight in the eye, waiting. 

“you really don’t wanna be sitting on the floor for this one.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this one!  
> Comments and questions and kudos are always appreciated :) 
> 
> Stay healthy and safe <3
> 
> Love,  
> 08WonWon18


	7. ULTIMATUMS*

**TAE’S POV**

***00:55AM***

It wasn’t like Taehyung had never seen anyone give a lap dance before. Hell, he’d even received one at his cousin’s bachelor party two years ago. He’d never quite understood what made them so special, however. Not until he saw Jungkook giving one. 

And he mentally cursed (and thanked) Jimin for making him watch as Jungkook grinded his hips down on on the older boy’s, just barely, but seemingly very much intentionally, missing his crotch.

Taehyung gulped, his eyes wide in shock, which he would’ve desperately tried to hide had he not been so drunk. He wanted to look away. He needed to look away, unless he wanted to pop a boner. 

But Jungkook was looking directly at him, with a slight smirk decorating his annoyingly perfect face. 

And Taehyung was pretty sure he could’ve literally cut the tension between them with a knife, it was so damn near suffocating. Which was exactly why he needed to look away right fucking now. 

But he didn’t. 

In fact, he was still frozen in place, eyes wide open, not blinking once, even when Jungkook did a slow backflip and smoothly slid to his knees on the floor while simultaneously running his hands on Jimin’s thighs, all the way to his crotch this time. And perfectly in sync with the song ending, Jungkook finished the dance with a seductive kiss pressed lightly on the now painfully obvious boner Jimin was sporting. 

It was difficult to say which was funnier, the way Taehyung still wasn’t blinking when Jungkook got back to the sofa next to him, or the way Jimin coughed loudly and excused himself from the room, grabbing some random guy’s arm in the hallway right outside and dragging him upstairs with him. 

“Is he always like that?” 

“Hmm?” Taehyung asked, realising he still wasn’t paying enough attention to Jungkook, even though the boy had returned sitting right next to him a minute ago.

“Jimin” Jungkook chuckled: “He always get worked up so fast or do I need to be worried?” 

“Nahh he just hasn’t gotten any for weeks.” 

“Well I can certainly relate to that” 

Taehyung was trying to control his laughter so hard that he nearly choked on the soju he was drinking. “Really? What’s your excuse then? I mean…” he looked at Jungkook pointedly while raising an eyebrow: “don’t take it the wrong way, but you’re really so damn hot that you could be sleeping with anyone as we speak. What’s stopping you?” 

Jungkook chuckled again: “Right now?” he shrugged: “Nothing, really. Just not in the mood for a pointless hook up, I guess.” 

“Shit how I miss pointless hook ups.” Taehyung sighed, only halfway joking: “Relationships are so fucking complicated. Especially when your boyfriend is a huge fan of random hook ups.” 

Jungkook turned to look at him with raised eyebrows and was just about to say something when Namjoon announced that it was Jungkook’s turn to ask. 

And so the game went on for good two hours, getting dirtier by the minute, as often happened with truth or dare when played by drunk college kids. 

“Taehyung-ah! Truth or dare?” Seokjin asked from where he was leaning against Namjoon’s chest. 

“Dare. This better be good or I’m quitting.” 

“I dare you to…” Seokjin looked around the room for a bit: “pick the person you’d most likely sleep with and sit on their lap until it’s your turn again” 

“That all you got?” Taehyung asked at the same time as a familiar voice said from the doorway: “He has a boyfriend you know.” 

The whole room fell silent for a second and everyone turned to look at the intruder. 

“Yuta” Taehyung rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s best friend: “Stop being a buzzkill.” 

“Unfortunately that’s exactly what I’m here for. Let’s go now, shall we?” 

“Are you serious? I’m not gonna leave.” 

“Johnny is waiting for you.” Yuta looked at him pointedly.

“Ha, I bet he is.” Taehyung took another shot of soju.

“Stop being difficult and just come. You’ll never work things out like this.” 

“Umm not to be rude, but I’m pretty sure Taehyung just said that he’s not leaving.” Jimin arrived back just then, making his way past Yuta, looking at him verily. 

“You don’t have to go with him, Tae” Jungkook agreed with Jimin. 

“He asked me to remind you about the deal you made.” Yuta said, his tone turning colder, seemingly very unamused. 

Taehyung froze in his seat, looking at Yuta with disbelief: “He what?” 

“Don’t make me repeat it.” 

“What’s going on Tae?” Jimin asked, shocked with the sudden cold atmosphere. 

“You gonna come or do I have to--” 

“Stop” Taehyung interrupted quickly: “I’ll come, just shut the fuck up.” 

Yuta only shrugged, while everyone else was quietly watching the scene confusedly. 

“Taehyung?” Jungkook questioned, grabbing Taehyung’s arm, when he moved to get up. 

“It’s fine, I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” It was really not okay. At all. Johnny had been awfully quick to appoint him a goddamn babysitter, it seemed. Not to mention that Yuta obviously already knew all about their 'deal' as Johnny had called it. 

The younger furrowed his eyebrows, but nodded.  
“Let’s go then.” Taehyung said to Yuta, who smiled and motioned him to go ahead of him. 

_***Two and a half hours ago***_

_“Have you stopped?” Taehyung clarified: “Stopped fucking other people? Lying to me? Making me feel like an idiot for waiting for you to call me when in reality you’re just out again, with someone else? Have you stopped hurting me?”_

_“I-”_

_“Cause if you haven’t,” Taehyung lifted his finger to silence the other: “then please just let me go, cause I can’t keep doing this.”_

_“You’re so fucking naïve, Taehyung.” Johnny finally said, after an awkwardly long silence: “That is not how this works and you know it.”_

_Taehyung flinched at the sudden change in the older’s tone: “What?”_

_“What do you think will happen if we break up, huh? That everything will just go on normally? You never had a chance at being normal without me. Not after that trial. It was because of my family that there was no scandal, you know?” Johnny deadpanned, shaking his head._

_Taehyung took a step back: “So I was right then, wasn’t I? You were never interested in me. Just my money. The fucking blood money.”_

_“You honestly think that low of me? Of course I fucking cared about you, Taehyung.”_

_“I don’t know what to think anymore! You just fucking tried to blackmail me into staying in a relationship with you! Doesn’t really sound like caring for someone to me.”_

_“I was simply stating facts.” Johnny shrugged, making Taehyung’s stomach turn with the coldness behind the gesture._

_“You were serious.” he got out, nearly choking on the words. The realisation hit him just then. Johnny was really just here to blackmail Taehyung into staying with him. He wasn’t even trying to make things right. God only knew if he had ever tried._

_Johnny laughed: “Of course I was. Oh honey, you really are naïve. You can’t break up with me unless you want your little secret getting out. So here’s the deal,” he stated coldly: “we are gonna go on just like we have been doing this far. We’re gonna go on dates and kiss and text and call and do everything a normal couple does. You get to keep your image and I get a perfect facade to cover up whatever it is that I wanna do.”_

_“You can’t seriously expect me to-”_

_“I’m not done yet, baby.” the older boy interrupted, smirking: “Obviously this means that you can’t make a mess of things by cheating on me, so you’re not allowed to go out with anyone else. That includes any sexual activities with other people. Oh, and I’ll need a few million won just to make sure we have an agreement.”_

_Things were getting so out of Taehyung’s control that it scared the hell out of him. But mostly he was hurt, and angry, for being played like this. What choice did he have, though? It wasn’t like he wanted the world to know about everything that had happened four years ago._

_“We weren’t dating back then.” Taehyung murmured quietly, making Johnny furrow his eyebrows in confusion._

_“What are you talking about?”_

_“Four years ago, after the trial, when we met. We were just friends for years. You only started showing any romantic interest in me when I was with Yoongi. So what changed that suddenly made you need a cover up?”_

_“Is it really that hard to believe that I actually had feelings for you? And obviously you fell for me too, or we wouldn’t be here right now. Feelings fade, though.”_

_“Still, I never took you for the kind to blackmail others, but apparently I was wrong about so much.”_

_“So, do we have a deal or not? I’m getting a bit impatient here, darling.”_

_“Fine.” Taehyung said, clenching his teeth. He was gonna find a way out. He was gonna find a way to make Johnny pay for this. But right now, he had no other choice but to obey._

_“Good. I’ll see you at 3am then. As your boyfriend I need to pick you up from parties. And I’m obviously expecting you to act your part until as well. If anyone asks, I only came by to give you this just now.” the older boy handed him a brand new wrist watch._

_The mere sight of the unexpected, expensive gift was making Taehyung sick. Especially when it was handed with such a sickening motive behind it._  
_After Johnny had left, Taehyung stood still for a good ten minutes before he placed the watch on his wrist and went to the back door to get a drink.  
He needed more alcohol to be able to face his friends right now._

_**Much more alcohol.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why why why why why did I think I was supposed to upload this 17/05 and not 07/05 like I promised here?? Forgive me for my lack of skills in the art of using my brain! The next chapter will be out on 17/05, that's a promise.


	8. I TRUST YOU*

**JK’S POV**

**Jungkook sent a private message:**  
Hyung, have you heard from Taehyung? It’s been three days since the party and he’s still not home  
[sent: 03:42PM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Not in a few days. The guys told me that he left the party with Johnny. They usually don’t spend days together though..  
[sent: 03:50PM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
Johnny? His boyfriend?  
[sent: 03:50PM KST]

 **Yoongs:**  
Yeah, look, kiddo, I need to go  
I have a photoshoot in ten minutes  
[sent: 03:50PM KST]

 **Yoongs:**  
Just…  
[sent: 03:51PM KST]

 **Yoongs:**  
Try to call him, okay?  
[sent: 03:51PM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
Already tried, like five times  
[sent: 03:51PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
But I’ll try again  
[sent: 03:51PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
Thanks hyung  
[sent: 03:52PM]

 **Yoongs:**  
Don’t worry too much, I’m sure he’s fine  
[sent: 03:52PM KST]

 **Jungkook:**  
I hope so…  
[sent: 03:52PM]

Jungkook sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter while dialing Taehyung’s number again.  
He tried not to be too surprised when the older didn’t answer. He knew that Taehyung was an adult who could take care of himself, and by no means did he have any obligations to tell Jungkook his whereabouts, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. 

He also didn’t have have too good impression about Taehyung’s boyfriend. Judging by the phone call he’d overheard, the way Taehyung had mentioned his relationship at the party and how someone had literally showed up to drag the boy away from his friends… this Johnny guy definitely seemed a little shady.

Again, not like it was any of Jungkook’s business, but thinking about Taehyung spending time (let alone days) presumably alone with his boyfriend was making his gut wrench uncomfortably. 

The sound of a new message brought Jungkook back from his thoughts and he opened his phone quickly in hopes that it was finally from Taehyung. 

**Unknown:**  
Jungkook, right?  
[sent: 04:01PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
Who’s this?  
[sent: 04:01PM] 

**Unknown:**  
Right, sorry

It’s Jimin, we met at the party the other day  
I got your number from Yoongi  
[sent: 04:02PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
Oh

Yeah, I remember you  
What’s up?  
[sent: 04:02PM]

***Jungkook saved the new contact as Jimin***

**Jimin:**  
This is probably a little weird to ask  
[sent: 04:03PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
Says the guy who literally dared me to give him a lap dance a few days ago  
[sent: 04:04PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Haha  
[sent: 04:04PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Okay, true.. I did that  
[sent: 04:04PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
So what is it?  
[sent: 04:05PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Well it’s about Taehyung..  
[sent: 04:05PM]

 **Jimin:**  
He hasn’t called or texted me, or anyone I guess, since the party  
[sent: 04:06PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Guess that includes you too?  
[sent: 04:06PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
Yeah  
[sent: 04:07PM]

 **Jimin:**  
I thought so…  
[sent: 04:07PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Listen, I’m a little preoccupied at the moment so could you go check on him? His car keys are in the top left drawer next to the fridge in kitchen  
[sent: 04:08PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Don’t ask why they’re there  
[sent: 04:08PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
You sure about this?  
[sent: 04:08PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
I don’t wanna make him uncomfortable or anything  
[sent: 04:08PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Aww I knew you care about him  
[sent: 04:09PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Don’t worry, if he’s really with Johnny you’ll be doing him a favour  
[sent: 04:09PM]

 **Jimin:**  
Besides, this isn’t exactly his normal behaviour so I’d rather not wait any longer  
[sent: 04:09PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
Okay then  
[sent: 04:10PM]

 **Jungkook:**  
Send me the address  
[sent: 04:10PM]

An hour later Jungkook was standing in front of a door, biting his lip nervously. He’d checked three times that he’d gotten the address right before entering the building and here he was now, in front of apartment 1103. Johnny’s apartment. Taehyung’s boyfriend’s apartment. 

_This feels so wrong,_ he thought, closing his eyes briefly, trying to decide whether he should knock or just leave. 

It was the sudden noise he heard coming from the apartment that ultimately made the decision for him, however. He barely had any time to prepare for what was about to happen before the door opened abruptly and a boy he’d never seen before stood in front of him, immediately glaring at him. 

“Who are you?” the boy snapped. 

“Umm..” 

Jungkook barely managed to come up with an answer before he saw Taehyung appear to the doorway from behind the boy, clear surprise written all over his face when he laid eyes on Jungkook. 

“Jungkook?” he asked quietly, his voice sounding so small, so… vulnerable that it was nearly alarming. 

The boy in front of him turned back to look at Taehyung with raised eyebrows: “You know him? Great… What is he doing here?” 

“Why don’t you just ask me that directly?” Jungkook clenched his fist slightly, trying to keep his voice calm despite the sudden irritation he felt. 

“Haha sorry,” the boy didn’t sound like he was sorry in the least bit: “I’m Johnny, Taehyung’s boyfriend, just heading out actually so I’m afraid we’ll have to cut the introductions short. Need me to bring you anything, baby?” 

Taehyung shook his head: “Actually, now that Jungkook’s here I guess he could give me a ride back home?” 

Jungkook watched the two boys exchange a look, which definitely held more meaning than the simple question Taehyung had voiced. 

For a second Jungkook could’ve sworn Taehyung was actually asking Johnny permission to leave. But then the moment was over as Johnny’s face lit up with one of the fakest smiles Jungkook had ever seen and he turned to look at him: “That would save me the trouble of driving later. That okay with you?” 

Jungkook only nodded, afraid he was gonna say something stupid if he opened his mouth. Like how easily he saw through the fake kindness act the boy was putting up. 

“Great! See you later then.” Johnny gave Taehyung a quick peck before disappearing down the stairs. 

Jungkook turned back to face Taehyung: “So…” he began: “What-” 

Taehyung pulled him into the apartment by his arm and shut the door behind him before he had a chance to say anything else. 

“Just help me pack up my stuff and take me home, please.” The older pleaded quickly, almost stumbling over his words: “I’ll explain, I promise. Just please take me home, Jungkook”

“Are you okay?” Jungkook asked, following the older through the apartment, watching as he threw stuff into a big canvas bag as he went. A stupid question, he realised as the only answer he got was silence and even more frantic movements, things like jewelry and clothes and some dvds and video games practically flying around by the speed they were thrown into the bag.

“Would you grab that t-shirt for me?” Taehyung only mumbled, pointing to the left side of the king sized bed on top of which the said shirt was lying before storming off to the next room, which Jungkook assumed to be a bathroom. 

Jungkook obeyed wordlessly, folding the shirt neatly. 

Taehyung came back quickly and opened the bag for him to put the shirt in: “Okay, I think I’m good to go now.” 

They walked to the car in silence, Taehyung quickly going for the passenger seat once they reached it, clearly not willing to drive. 

The drive drive back to Taehyung’s apartment was equally quiet. Jungkook was dying to ask what was going on, but opted for letting the older tell him whatever it was he wanted to tell, whenever he wanted. 

Once they were safely in the apartment, Taehyung dropped the bag with his belongings in it and ran straight to the nearest bathroom. 

The sounds of him throwing up filled the hallway right after. 

Jungkook quickly went to the kitchen to grab a big glass, which he filled with juice, and then followed the older boy into the bathroom. 

Taehyung was leaning against the toilet, his whole body shaking as he emptied his stomach. 

Jungkook grabbed a hand towel from the shelf and ran cold water over it until it was cool enough and then wrapped it around the back of the older boy’s neck. After that he could really only soothingly caress his back until he finally calmed down and stopped refusing to drink the juice Jungkook had brought. 

“I need to tell you something.” Taehyung finally said, his voice hoarse after throwing up so violently: “And I need you to promise..” he looked Jungkook in the eye with determination in his own: “really promise, to keep it to yourself. No one else can know about this. Can you do that for me?” 

Jungkook didn’t hesitate one bit, knowing that he would never break the boy’s trust. Not if it was up to him. “I promise that I won’t tell anyone.” 

“I trust you, Jungkookie. And I know it may seem rushed, because we haven’t known each other for that long, but I really consider you one of my best friends already. And I can feel that you honestly care about me, just like I care about you.” Taehyung smiled, but it wasn’t the happy, boxy grin Jungkook had grown so fond of. Instead it was a sad, tiny smile, which didn’t reach the boy’s eyes. 

“I do care about you” Jungkook promised: “I really do." _More than I should,_ he added silently in his mind.

“Good. Because I really need someone to help me get through what’s about to come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my darlings,  
> Hope ya'll liked this chapter and are staying healthy :)  
> Comments and kudos are deeply appreciated as always :) 
> 
> P.S. Come chat with me on Instagram (@citizenmissed) ! I'm gonna start posting all kinds of random writing related stuff there so hit that follow button as well if you're interested :)


	9. 8. PARTY DAY final part: Why would you think you've let me down?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice weekend everyone! I'm gonna spend mine translating a few texts!  
> (Also, please ignore the fact that I didn't have enough time to fully edit, or proofread, this chapter)
> 
> WARNING! panic attack, again, in this chapter

**JK’s POV  
*03:12AM***

”Nooo, no no.” Taehyung slurred and then broke into a fit of giggles. Actual giggles. Jungkook found that adorable, but tried not to dwell too much on the discovery. He and Taehyung were friends. _Just friends.. With benefits maybe..? NO, stop it Jungkook. Stop thinking like that_ , he tried to tell himself. 

That’s when Taehyung smirked at him, _mocked_ him by raising his eyebrows while he said: “I swear _that’s_ the lamest dare so far.” 

Jungkook couldn’t believe the older boy had just used Jungkook’s own words against him. He rolled his eyes: “Ha ha, that’s funny.” He couldn’t help but smile, though. 

“What’s wrong with this one then?” Hoseok asked, his smile wider than Jungkook had ever seen before. 

“I’m already shit-faced as it is, thanks to Jungkookie darling here.” Taehyung looked at Jungkook again, this time something unreadable in his eyes. 

“Payback” Jungkook mouthed silently, which made Taehyung crack the smallest of smiles, while simultaneously pointing his middle finger at him. Then he turned back to Hoseok: “So you making me drink _that_.. whatever the fuck it even is, kinda sounds lame right now. Something else, _please?_ ” 

“Wow,” Hoseok looked like he’d just seen a cat fly across the room or something when he turned to Jungkook: “Jungkook. I swear I’ve never seen Taehyung turn down a drink dare before. You’re seriously good at this game.” 

Jungkook smiled, amused at the thought of the drink he’d made for Taehyung before. There had barely been any alcohol in it, just a few drops of apple liqueur to make it taste sweeter. The rest had basically just been carbonated water and salt. Obviously Taehyung had not noticed, drunk enough already to believe Jungkook was actually trying to mess with him. 

“So, no drinking, okay.. How about you send a cheesy drunk text to the person you last texted?” was Hoseok’s next suggestion, at which all the colour seemed to drain from Taehyung’s face. 

Jungkook briefly looked around to see if anyone else noticed, Jimin being the only one to sport an alarmed look. 

“Okay, give me the drink.” Taehyung said quietly, not looking up anymore, only holding his hand up, most likely waiting for Hoseok to give him the cup. 

Hoseok’s smile started to fade a little though, his expression slowly turning into worried: “Tae, are you okay? Two seconds ago you didn’t wanna drink anymore and now-” 

“And now he does, so give it to him.” Jimin interrupted abruptly, turning to look at Hoseok, trying to divert his attention from the sudden change in atmosphere, trying to divert everyone’s attention from it. 

Jungkook wasn’t fooled though, he could see how uncomfortable Taehyung was suddenly feeling, which was why he said: “Or we could just skip his turn altogether.”  
He looked around, daring anyone to try and say something to oppose. 

For a while no one did. Until Wonho said: “Okay.. let’s say we skip his turn, and then what? Start skipping others’ too? Thought we were supposed to play. It’s just a game.” 

“Honey, calm down. Obviously there’s something going on that we don’t know about. Let’s just do as Jungkook suggested, yeah?” Hyungwon kissed his boyfriend on the cheek and ruffled his hair when he tried to whine some more. 

Taehyung had his hands balled tightly into fists, and suddenly everything about the boy seemed.. fragile. And then he visibly flinched when the song switched, accidentally kicking his thigh against the table, knocking over a bottle of soju in the process, pieces of glass crashing all over the floor around him. 

The boy was moving immediately, cutting his hand on the sharp pieces of glass as he leaned it against the floor for balance, trying to get up as fast as he could. 

Jungkook reacted, and before he even had a chance to think twice he was already up too, not giving two shits about everyone’s confusion. 

”Taehyung where are you going?” Jimin asked, but Taehyung didn't react at all. The boy just started walking towards the door, steps unsteady and the look on his face so panicked that it hurt Jungkook. It _hurt_ him to see the older boy like this. There was no denying it anymore.. Jungkook had feelings for his roommate.. his friend. 

”Wait.. it’s not..? What is going on?? He’s panicking?!” Hoseok seemed utterly confused, his voice laced with guilt. Like he felt responsible. The boy, along with Jimin, stood up too, both looking ready to go after Taehyung, who was now at the door, trying to open it with shaky hands. 

”NO!” Jungkook yelled suddenly, blocking their way. The whole situation had gotten so chaotic so quickly that everything just needed to stop for a second so Jungkook could make some sense of it. 

”Just.. stay here. Everyone just stay here, okay? The last thing we need is to overwhelm him any more, right?” He said, looking pointedly at Jimin and Hoseok. ”So I’ll go after him.. alone.” 

”Why should I tr-” Jimin began, but was interrupted by the door finally opening and Taehyung leaving. ”You know what.. if you hurt him, you’re dead. I don’t care what Yoongi says, I’ll hurt you if you hurt my best friend.” 

Jungkook only nodded, taking quick steps towards the door, stopping it from slamming to his face. 

”Jungkook take care of him! Please..” Hoseok yelled and then the door shut behind Jungkook. 

**TAE’s POV  
*3:35AM***

A hand on his shoulder, 

a featherlight touch.

Another one on the side of his neck, the touch so gentle Taehyung could barely feel it. 

”Breathe” a voice said, the source of it so, so close to him.

Taehyung opened his mouth. 

”No, just inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Don’t think, just breathe. Focus on the breathing. You’re okay.”

Taehyung drew in a violently shaky breath through his nose, feeling like he was choking. He tried to open his mouth again, but this time there was a hand blocking it. Gently. Taehyung could easily remove it, should he want to. He didn’t want to. He trusted Jungkook. So he tried again, gathering all of his energy to focus on the simple task of breathing like Jungkook had told him to. 

A deep inhale through his nose, holding the air in, looking Jungkook in the eye until the younger boy slowly withdrew his hand from Taehyung’s mouth. 

A slow exhale through his mouth, never looking away from Jungkook. The boy was so calm, like he knew exactly what he was doing. And who knows, maybe he did. Maybe he’d gone through similar things himself. Or maybe he’d seen someone go through similar things before. 

Alternating between inhales and exhales slowly started to work, Taehyung noticed, as his body relaxed and the exhaustion started to crash in. 

”You’re okay” Jungkook said, and Taehyung realised he’d been repeating the phrase for a while now, everytime Taehyung had breathed in. 

After what felt like minutes, but might’ve as well been hours, Taehyung just slumped against Jungkook, which the boy had obviously prepared for, his arms immediately around Taehyung, holding him upright. 

”I’m sorry” Taehyung muttered quietly against Jungkook’s chest. 

”Shh don’t worry, I’m here, you’re okay.” Jungkook whispered, smoothly caressing his back.

More minutes passed and the boys stayed still, Taehyung breathing in Jungkook’s scent—a mixture of soap, cologne and the faintest hint of alcohol— and Jungkook’s hands moving in calming circles on his back. 

Finally Taehyung took a small step back, realising at the same time that his left hand hurt. He looked at it. So did Jungkook: ”Let me see.” 

The younger boy took his hand before he had a chance to argue. He pointed a flashlight at it, then murmured: ”Let’s get back inside so I can clean it up, it’s not too bad.” 

”Please, no.. I can’t- I can’t go back. I just.. can we please just go home? Please, Jungkook.”  
Taehyung felt a lump in his throat at the thought of having to go back inside and face his friends. 

”Okay. It’s okay, just breathe, we don’t have to go back. Just wait a sec and I’ll call a cab. That sound good?” Jungkook said, not even a hint of sarcasm or amusement in his voice, which Taehyung was more grateful for at that moment than he could ever put into words. So he grabbed Jungkook’s hand instead and intertwined their fingers. 

”Thank you, Kookie.” 

**JK’s POV  
*5:29AM***

Jungkook didn’t really feel comfortable leaving Taehyung alone, not even when they got back to Taehyung’s apartment. But he didn’t know if the older boy wanted him to stay with him either, so here he was, waiting in the hallway, while Taehyung took a shower, a glass of water in his hands. Ready to leave, but ready to stay too. 

He got his answer pretty quickly though, in the form of Taehyung practically dragging him to his room, constantly apologising at the same time. 

They sat on Taehyung’s bed, both already seemingly sobered up from everything that had happened in the past few hours. 

”Stop.” Jungkook said firmly, taking Taehyung’s hands into his own. ”Stop apologising, you haven’t done anything wrong.” 

”I let you down.. I let Yoongi down.. I just fucked everything up.” The older boy said quietly, avoiding eye contact. 

”Why would you think you’ve let me down? And Yoongi? He’s not even here.” 

”I promised him I’d look after you. And I didn’t. You’ve been —still are— going through way much more shit than I have and I should’ve been there for you. And I haven’t. You should hate me.” 

”Taehyung stop, just stop! You were there for me, okay? You picked me up from literally in the middle of nowhere and gave me a place to stay when you didn’t even know who I was. And you’ve never, not even once, since left me alone when I’ve needed to talk to someone. So no, you have not let me down. And you and I both know you haven’t let Yoongs down either. And neither one of us could ever hate you. You should know that.” Jungkook cupped Taehyung’s face, making him look him in the eyes: ”You wanna tell me why you’re suddenly feeling like this?” 

Taehyung let out a deep breath: ”Johnny broke up with me.. And I know I shouldn’t care. He hurt me.. and I- But I still care. And I hate it that I do.” 

“That’s why you disappeared at the party?” Jungkook asked silently.

“Yeah..” 

”You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to. But you can. I’m here for you, Taehyung. I want you to know that.” 

”Thank you Kookie.” Taehyung’s lips were on Jungkook’s before neither of them realised what was happening. 

And even though it was all kinds of wrong given the circumstances, Jungkook wanted to be selfish. Everything in him was screaming for him to be selfish and just kiss Taehyung properly. He wanted to grab a hold of Taehyung’s hair and pull him closer. He wanted to deepen the kiss and taste every inch of his mouth. He wanted to pin the boy down on the mattress and— _Okay, definitely not the right time for those kinds of thoughts._

So Jungkook pulled away, closing his eyes, cause he knew if he looked Taehyung in the eyes right now, he’d never be able to hold back. And this was not how Jungkook wanted things to go. He wanted to be more than a rebound. He wanted Taehyung to mean it when he finally kissed him. Not only to thank him. So Jungkook leaned back, until there was enough space between them for him to be able to breathe again. 

”Not like this.” He said quietly, eyes still shut, and shook his head. 

”Kook, I—” 

”It’s okay, I just— It’s okay. I should go to sleep. You should too.” Jungkook said, not daring to look at Taehyung even when he finally opened his eyes. Instead he got up quickly, leaving the room without another word, not giving the older boy a chance to say anything.


	10. Author's note (NOT an update!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 1 : NOW UPDATED  
> CHAPTER 2 : NOW UPDATED  
> CHAPTER 3 : NOW UPDATED  
> CHAPTER 4: NOW UPDATED  
> CHAPTER 5: NOW UPDATED  
> CHAPTER 6: NOW UPDATED  
> CHAPTER 7: NOW UPDATED  
> CHAPTER 8: **NOW UPDATED**  
>  CHAPTER 9: 27/05/20

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that I have not abandoned this story! It is only going through some major changes in the storyline, which is going to take some time. I will post the re-written chapter 1 on March 12th so stay tuned! 

Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused, but I just hit a major writer's block and NEEDED to re-write the entire thing so I could move forward with it :( ! 

I've also been working on some Taekook oneshots so please look forward to those too in the next few months!  
Thank you for your patience <3

**P.S. See the notes at the beginning of this chapter for the planned update schedule!**

Love,  
08WonWon18


End file.
